The Way
by snowdrifts
Summary: It's all about the way he does things. The way he looks at her, the way he protects her, the way he can't keep his hands off of her and so on. How could I have known that the wrong girl had fallen onto his lap in the subway? [Rucas VS Lucaya through Farkle's eyes.] [Starts off Rucas and turns out full-blown Lucaya.]


**A/N: Don't ask me where the hell this came from, I have no idea. First of all, this is written in Farkle's point of view. He talks about Rucas and how it evolved into Lucaya and all that.**

 **Enjoy!**

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It's always been about Riley and Lucas. For most of my life, I've been in love with Riley Matthews. I can tell when she's hurt, I can tell when she's happy, I can tell when she's sad, but when it came to Lucas Friar, her eyes and thoughts were always unreadable to me. On the other hand, Lucas is an open book.

He's my best friend; I know him like the back of my hand. Unlike Riley, whenever it came to her, I could read how he felt. I understood how he felt; I _knew_ how he felt because ever since first grade, Riley Matthews has been in my life and she's the best thing that's ever happened to me. Then Maya Hart came along and I questioned my whole life.

At first, I could tell that Lucas was only friends by association with Maya and me. Riley was the one who had fallen onto his lap, Riley was the one who invited him for lunch that first day, _Riley_ was the one he would always talk to first. It sucked, because of course we felt excluded, but Riley was happy, so the Riley committee was happy. All I've ever wanted for Maya and Riley was for them to be happy. I wouldn't get in the way of their happiness.

But then, Lucas and I became friends. He and Maya also got closer. It all started with them having to work together for the "Hart and Friar Muffin Co.". The project had brought the two of them closer and that was understandable, but from the moment Maya "ha-hurred" in his face, I could tell that their dynamic had changed.

The teasing became more present when they spoke. It almost felt like Maya made it her daily mission to tease and tease and tease Lucas until he broke. He was such a Mr. Perfect back then; of course she would try to break him. The broken one breaks the other ones around with her broken pieces, right? Wrong. Not him. Lucas wouldn't budge.

Their frenemy relationship continued on until I finally realized something: He stared at her. A lot. I did my research by observing him over the course of a week and his eyes always seemed to find Maya. Never Riley. Sure, when Riley spoke, he would look at her. That's what a normal person does. But a normal person does _not_ stare at the back of a person's head with so much love and adoration in their eyes. At first I thought _hey, maybe he just really likes her hair!_ But the fact that his eyes always lingered on her whenever they spoke really told me something about him.

There were all of those times where he protected her like she needed it. Like she couldn't be hurt. And she did the same. When "Texas Lucas" made his first appearance when Billy was bullying me, Maya was the first to literally jump on his back and tell him to stop. And he did.

Now, that was all before the first date. During his first date with Riley (and my first date with Maya), Lucas only paid attention to Riley. His eyes were on her throughout the whole night and my eyes were on Maya the whole night (she had given me at least 84% and that, my friends, is what I call a miracle). But at the end of their date, he had actually cancelled his date with Riley so she could go talk to Maya. She had a huge crush on Josh back then, no wonder he was worried when he left. Maya deserved way better than an idiot who couldn't see how great of a person Maya is.

Then, Zay came along. Zay was like the savior of everyone who believed Maya and Lucas could be a couple. On my side, I had never thought of them that way. Lucas was supposed to be with Riley, that's how everything was planned out.

Obviously, Zay got into trouble. Lucas ran to his rescue and that's when Mr. Perfect crumbled. Maya, Riley, Mr. Matthews and I always stood and watched the scene as Lucas pinned that asshole to the lockers. His eyes had something we had never seen in them except for that time with Billy; danger and recklessness. His eyes read what I had always seen in Maya and when Zay came around and told us about how Lucas was back then, it suddenly clicked. _Maya was the kind of girl the old Lucas would have been interested in._ Everything about Maya read danger and recklessness and everything about Riley read comfort and safety. Maya was the storm and Riley was the calm after the storm. Suddenly, Lucas' expression in his eyes when he looked at Riley became clear to me. He didn't love her like I do. He was trying to convince himself that he did, because let's face it, Mr. Perfect needs a Princess Dancing Sunshine by his side, right?

But Mr. Perfect was broken.

One day, Eric (Riley's uncle), came along and made it clear to everyone's eyes that Lucas and Maya had something more than friendship. The only ones that were still oblivious to it were Riley, Lucas and Maya themselves. Lucas had never answered Eric's question as to _why_ he let Maya call him all of those names.

Then, during our class detention, Lucas had some sort of epiphany. He followed Maya's path (and so did I) into craziness and recklessness. When she pulled him nose to nose in the hallway, I was so sure that they were about to kiss. At first, he was so surprised of the closeness, but he relaxed into her and pretty much leaned closer. Their noses were almost touching, and the whole hallway was quiet, but we couldn't hear what was being said.

The stares at the back of Maya's head were a lot more often, now. And Riley was starting to see it, too. As a member of the Riley committee, I couldn't let her see that. But Lucas and Maya's relationship became so _physical_ that I couldn't keep her preoccupied for that long.

The yearbook comes and everything crashes down on Riley Matthews. Lucas and Maya are voted favorite couple and Riley finally realizes everything that's been going on with them. She changes her style (and I become Donnie Barnes, but let's never speak of that again) and her personality. I can tell she's hurting, but what can I say? I couldn't say anything that would reassure her, so I sat in the dark of her room with her in silence. The next day, Maya becomes Riley and her and Lucas exchange that strange "hey" greeting that Lucas and Riley had. He completely relaxes and his eyes seem full of love before he screams out _no!_ and goes back to his seat. He's angry, that's for sure. He's angrier at me for being Donnie Barnes than he is at Riley for being Morotia M. Black. That's when I realized that he doesn't care much what Riley does, as long as Maya's okay. Maya makes a comment about how much Riley likes Lucas and catches herself before repeating the word _brother_ twice, but I don't miss it.

After that, there was the semi-formal and the whole Charlie incident. I mostly stayed on my side, deciding that letting Lucas fight his battle for Riley was better. But he doesn't fight. He's okay with it after one try of convincing Charlie that he and Riley had an unofficial thing going, and he gives up. He danced with Maya for the rest of the night.

When the arts were supposed to be cut from the schools, that's when Maya's behavior towards Lucas changed. In the middle of class, Lucas says he wants Maya to be happy. They exchange a strange, silent conversation and Riley glances worriedly between her crush and her best friend. And Zay says that Lucas referred to Maya as the "blonde beauty" and Riley as the "pretty brunette", and it almost became clear to Riley. It sucked to see the hurt in her eyes when she understood that that's all she was to Lucas, because all I had ever wanted was for Riley Matthews to be happy. And Lucas Friar didn't make her happy anymore.

It's always been about the way he looked at her, always been about how his eyes lingered on her, always been about how he _wouldn't stop_ thinking about Maya Hart.

After that, it was all about the way Maya Hart looked at Lucas Friar, the way she was always so physically close to him, the way her eyes were always find him and lingering on his with some kind of realization forming itself in her eyes. Maya Hart had had the same epiphany that Lucas Friar had had about her, but at a different time.

Now, it's all about the stolen glances. The small smiles. The "doing everything just to get my hands on the other" thing. Maya's eyes always get sadder when she looks at Lucas because she knows and I know that being part of the Riley committee meant not being able to do _anything at all_ about her feelings because she cared more about Riley's feelings than her own.

But the moment that my best friend Lucas will finally realize what's happening and when he'll finally accept those feelings he's been pushing down all along, he'll finally know that breaking Riley Matthews' heart had its consequences. Starting with her best friend resenting you, no matter how she feels about you.

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 **A/N: Don't forget to drop a review, lovelies. They always make me want to write more!**

 **-xx**


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